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94tethered to a base%u2019.18 In the Falklands Campaign the eggshell was plain tosee and all the more fragile for it.LOGISTIC LESSONSWhile the Falklands Campaign did not generate any startling logisticinsights, it did provide a powerful demonstration that the performance ofthe support area is a key element in sustaining operations. It also servedto reaffirm the importance of the key principles underpinning the RAF%u2019sengineering and supply organisation %u2013 flexibility and responsiveness.There were, of course, specific lessons, including:The vital role of strategic and tactical airlift.The importance of sustaining aircraft availability under surgeconditions.The high consumption of materiel, particularly fuel, during intensiveair operations.The value of deployable repair facilities and specialist support units.The need for effective pipeline management of critical assets.The essential contribution of industry in meeting UORs.The value of peacetime training in sustaining an expeditionarycapability.The importance of deployable, reliable and secure communications.The pivotal role of individuals %u2013 derived from high professionalstandards, shared values and a binding ethos. 19The Impact on the Logistic CommunityBut what of the impact on the wider logistic community? I believe itwas profound, although this may just be a personal view.Until 1982, the view at Swanton Morley, enshrined in the conduct ofsuccessive Tactical Evaluations, was that we had no role in war beyondthe despatch of manpower to the frontline. The same might have beeninferred for the wider support organisation. The reality of the FalklandsCampaign was very different. It shook many of our preconceptions anddemonstrated a demand for specialist skills, technical advice, resourcemodelling and contingency scaling and logistic support that was asoverwhelming as it was unexpected. I recall several SNCOs, who, whenasked to contribute to the planning effort for the garrison air component,became excited, if not tearful, at the prospect %u2013 after what they perceivedto have been the long, frustrating and largely unfulfilled years of the